William h



(No Model.)

Patented Ma 3, 1898.

. m, R 0 m M/ w NO. Hfi? R WITNESSES ATTORNEYS.

NiTE TATES WILLIAM H. COOKJOF WINFRED, SOUTH DAKOTA, ASSIGNOR TO THE IN-DIANA MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA.

PNEUMATIC STACKEIR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 603,593, dated May 3,1898. Application filed December 28, 1896. S ri l NO- 617,255- N modeldTo aZZ whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM H. CO0K, of Winfred, in the county of Lakeand State of SouthDakota, have invented a new and useful Improvement inPneumatic Straw-Stackers, of which the following is a specification.

My invention is in the nature of a pneumatic straw carrier and stackerin which the straw is taken from the endless elevator-apron and iscarried along by the force of ablast of air to the desired point; and itconsists in the special construction and combination of parts, which Iwill now proceed to describe,with reference to the drawings, in whichFigure 1 is a side elevation, partly in section. Fig. 1 is a side viewof the fan-case; Fig. 2, a partial plan view, and Fig. 3 an enlargedside viewin detail,of the ratchet clutch and Fig. 3 is a section of thesame.

In the drawings, E F is a trough-shaped frame, in which travels theusual endless apron G, which is provided with transverse slats andconstitutes a well-known form of carrier. The trough-shaped frame at itsinner end is hinged at D to a suitable upright frame T, so that saidtrough-shaped frame may be adjusted to different angles of elevation.

At the outer end of the trough-shaped frame there is a transverse rollerV, around which the endless apron passes, and a similar roller islocated at the inner end. About the outer end of said trough-shapedframe there is constructed a double housing or casing, one portion Rofwhich is above the end of the trough and the other portion S of which isbelow it. This casing converges or contracts at its outer end, so as toconnect with a pipe P. The

pipe, casing, and trough are rigidly connected together and aresuspended at any desired inclination by ropes B O, passing around apulley or Windlass A at the top of the upright frame. If desired,supporting-legs, as shown in dotted lines, may also be used, eitheralone or in combination with the suspending-ropes, to hold the casingand pipe in proper position.

Within the casing B there is arranged a rotary fan L, and in the lowercasing S there is arranged a rotary fan M, both of which fans are gearedto revolve in the direction of their respective arrows, the fan L takingin air through the opening H in its casing and discharging it throughthe-throat I into pipe P, while the fan M takes in air through theopening K in its casing and discharges it through the throat J into thepipe 1?, so that the straw from its carrier-apron is discharged into themedium line of these two converging streams of air to be carried out bythe same through the pipe P to any desired point. In this manner thestraw is delivered into the midst of a moving body of air without suchstraw passing into the fans at all.

The fan M is rotated by a pulley X on its shaft A,which pulley receivesmotion through a belt (not shown) from a driving-pulley on one of thefeed-rollers of the endless apron or from any other suitable pulley, andthe upper fan is driven from the lower fan by means of a sprocket-wheelO on the end of the fan-shaft A, a chain C and a correspondingsprocket-wheel O on the upper-fan shaft W.

The upper-fan shaft is journaled in uprights D, rising from the outerend of the trough-shaped frame, and the lower-fan shaft is journaled inhangers E, extending downwardly from the outer end of the troughshapedframe, and a fly-wheel B on the lowerfan shaft serves to insure auniform motion to the fans.

It sometimes happens that the endless apron of the straw-carrier and itsdriving mechanism will be retarded in motion by choking with straw, andif this should take place and the fans and fly-wheel were positivelygeared thereto the unimpeded momentum of the latter would be liable toinvolve a destructive strain upon the driving mechanism. To avoid this,the drive-pulleyX and the fan-shaftA are coupled for positive revolutiontogether in one direction but for independent revolution in the oppositedirection. For this I employ a ratchet-clutch, as shown in Fig. 3. Thedrive-pulley X has an internally-projecting ring of ratchet-teeth Z',and the shaft A has 'a head Y with two opposite recesses, in which arepivoted to the head pawls N, forced outwardly into engagement with theratchetteeth by springs O. \Vhen the pulley X is rotated in thedirection of the arrow, its ring of teeth Z catches against the pawls Nand locks the pulley to rigid revolution with the head Y and itsfan-shaft; but if the speed of the pulley X be retarded or stopped themomentum of the fly-wheel and fans turns the head Y with its pawls Nover the ratchet Z until the speed of the pulley catches up again withthe fan.

Having thus described my invention, What I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

1. A pneumatic pipe conveyer, combined with an endless apron and twofans one located above and the other below the end of the elevator-apronsubstantially as and for the purpose described.

2. A pneumatic straw-stacker having an endless elevator-apron,apneumatic pipe conveyer, and a rotary fan delivering a current of airinto the same said fan having a ratchetclutch connection with itsdriving mechanism to permit the fan to continue its revolution unimpededby the retardation pf the driving mechanism substantially as described.

3. A pneumatic pipe conveyer, combined with an endless elevator-apron,two rotary fans, one located above and the other below ing their motionsubstantially as and for the purpose described.

4. The combination with a hinged troughshaped frame, of an endless-apronelevator, a pipe conveyer, and fans and fan-casings arranged at theouter end of the trough-shaped frame, and means for sustaining and adjusting these devices as to inclination substantially as described.

5. The combination of the trough-shaped frame, and its endless-apronelevator, the double fan-casings R S having inlet-openings next to theelevator-apron, a pipe conveyer communicating with the opposite side ofsaid casings, and two rotary fans arranged one above and the other belowthe end of the revolving apron substantially as and for the purposedescribed.

WILLIAM H. COOK.

Witnesses:

GEORGE DEUEL, DAN A. ST. CLAIR.

